A powerful lawmaker with deep ties to the insurance industry is trying to kill billions in reimbursements for frontline healthcare workers, doctors say.

New Jersey Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. is leading the charge to insert language into a COVID-19 relief package of legislation that could lower physician reimbursement rates by up to 20 percent or more than $20 billion over the next ten years, doctors told The Post.

“This started out as a stand-alone bill back in December, and now Pallone is trying to stuff it into the fourth COVID stimulus package,” said John Azzariti, an anesthesiologist at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ. “We are putting our own lives on the line during this crisis, and to put this misguided policy in a stimulus package now would be a slap in the face to all physicians.”

For more than a year, Azzariti has been fighting against Pallone’s “No Surprise Act” which was designed to guard against the unexpected medical bills patients receive at hospitals for emergency care. Azzariti and other physicians worry that the bill would give insurance companies a great deal of power to set artificially low reimbursement rates.

Among the services that would be affected are out of network emergency surgeries. The bill would set default rates for specialists such as anesthesiologists based on median in-network reimbursement rates. The insurers would be allowed to cancel contracts with all ER doctors and other specialists if they think they are being paid too much, Azzariti said.

Pallone’s provision would let the government set health providers’ rates based on “benchmarking” — the average price for in-network services offered in a particular area.

“This policy would likely lead to physician shortages and even facility closures in many vulnerable and underserved communities, just as these critical providers are desperately needed,” said James Callahan, president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last week.

The union, which represents more than 400,000 mechanics and machine operators, many of whom work in hospitals, said it opposes “surprise billing” but the proposed legislation would “impose devastating cuts to frontline medical providers and tilt the playing field in favor of insurers.”

The timing of the legislation — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic — is also infuriating doctors.

“It’s like cutting off funding to the first responders the day after 9/11,” said Peter DeNoble, an orthopedic surgeon and the president of the New Jersey Doctor-Patient Alliance, an advocacy group.

Pallone is the powerful chairman of the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee which legislates on health care and insurance. He is also among the biggest recipients of campaign contributions from the healthcare industry, receiving nearly $7 million from the sector, including more than $1.1 million from the insurance industry, according to Open Secrets, a non-partisan web site which tracks money in US politics.

Pallone shrugged off the criticism and insisted the bill, which has bipartisan support, would ultimately benefit patients.

“No patient should have to pay tens of thousands of dollars in health care bills because they were unknowingly treated by an out-of-network doctor at the hospital,” said Pallone in a statement to The Post on Friday.

“I’m committed to protecting patients from surprise medical bills that force families into medical debt and collection through no fault of their own. The process is simply broken and it must be fixed to hold patients harmless, and that’s exactly what my bipartisan bill does.”